Small natures require despotism to exercise their sinews, as great souls thirst for equality to give play to their heart. – Honore de Balzac
It is well to know something of the manners of various peoples, in order more sanely to judge our own, and that we do not think that everything against our modes is ridiculous, and against reason, as those who have seen nothing are accustomed to think. – René Descartes, Discourse on the Method, 1637 (translated)

